drib

Related to drib: drive, machination, they'd, Strown

dribs and drabs

Insignificant, skimpy, and/or piecemeal amounts. A: "Have you been able to get any work lately?" B: "Just some dribs and drabs to keep me ticking along, but nothing substantial."
See also: and, drab, drib

in dribs and drabs

Periodically in very small amounts; bit by bit. Information was relayed to us in dribs and drabs, but it was hours before we got the whole story of what had happened. The return on your investment will come in dribs and drabs at first, but you'll see a more steady flow of income later.
See also: and, drab, drib
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

in dribs and drabs

in small portions; bit by bit. I'll have to pay you what I owe you in dribs and drabs. The whole story is being revealed in dribs and drabs.
See also: and, drab, drib
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

dribs and drabs

Bits and pieces, negligible amounts, as in There's not much left, just some dribs and drabs of samples. The noun drib is thought to be a shortening of driblet, for "drop" or "tiny quantity," dating from the early 1700s, whereas drab meaning "a small sum of money" dates from the early 1800s.
See also: and, drab, drib
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

in ˌdribs and ˈdrabs

(informal) in small amounts or numbers: People started arriving in dribs and drabs from nine o’clock onwards. He paid back the money in dribs and drabs.
See also: and, drab, drib
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

in dribs and drabs

mod. in small portions; bit by bit. I’ll have to pay you what I owe you in dribs and drabs.
See also: and, drab, drib
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

dribs and drabs

Small quantities. This phrase, dating from the early nineteenth century, consists of nouns that rarely appear elsewhere. Drib, originating in the early 1700s, probably alludes to “dribble” or “trickle”; drab has meant a petty sum of money since the early 1800s.
See also: and, drab, drib
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • drab
  • dribs and drabs
  • in dribs and drabs
  • bit player
  • mere trifle
  • back street
  • not insignificant
  • be beside the point
  • beside the point
  • great oaks grow from small acorns
References in periodicals archive
Her village after medico legal formalities from rural health center drib mehar shah.
Wife died, husband injured in road mishap near Drib Mehar Shah
Remember, the more dribs and drabs of income-the more irons you have in the fire--the better.
The home craft business as a supplemental income
Since the 1990s it has done dribs and drabs, and made the place disjointed.
Letter: Your Say - Has Coventry got what it takes in the retail stakes?
News did not travel at the speed of a mouse click 100 years ago, so it's not surprising that reports about the sinking of the Titanic came out only in dribs and drabs.
Adrift amid tragedy
Soldiers joined the track club in dribs and drabs, including Caesar.
Soldiering on: six months after losing his right leg in Iraq, U.S. Army Sergeant Hilbert Caesar wheeled across the finish line of the New York City Marathon
Hughes is set to name his squad for the game tomorrow, and Hartson said: "Hopefully we can get a full-strength squad down there and not just dribs and drabs.
Football: Hartson's call for show of strength
They document such immense demand and the supply fixes come only in dribs and drabs.
Work to Do
If these schools are successful, then those young citizens will surely help unify our country in far more important ways than the dribs and drabs of pop culture.
Letters
It's all dribs and drabs," says Jeff Cohen, managing director with Silverado Capital Management, a Saddle Brook, NJ-based convertible arbitrage fund.
Riding Convertibles
"Most thing come to us in dribs and drabs so it's wonderful to get this in one go."
Old bones give clues to island's past
As The Chicago Tribune noted on April 30, Britain and France have tried to "hobble Goldstone's investigations by keeping the tribunal on a tight leash," allowing its scant funding to be released in dribs and drabs barely large enough to keep it stocked with fax paper.
Bad to worse in Bosnia
THE LIKELY RESULT OF ALL OF THIS IS THAT THE CIA releases some limited amount of data, perhaps in dribs and drabs, and some environmental scientists are happy.
Spying on the environment
Thus, REGO will be presented to Congress in dribs and drabs, where it will be drubbed by special interests.
REGO no go
If Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) is serious in helping travellers whose data is stolen by travel agents or by airport authorities, and make sure the telephone sellers pay proper duties, there should be biometric verification of the passport holder within two weeks of registration through the PTA DRIBS system.
Travel data theft
The federal cabinet has approved the launching / operationalization of Device Identification, Registration and Blocking System (DRIBS) with effect from December 01.
FBR abandons drawback on import of non-compliant mobile phones upto Dec 31